German contains a scientific and philosophic terms lacking in other languages, but does not mean that English is not "conducive to inspiring deeper thought, contemplation and analytical understanding." German is no more conducive to deep thinking than italian is conducive to making fine music.

You are absolutely correct. After Goethe, Schopenhauer is the German writer who is seen by experts as having been the greatest master of German prose; although some rank him after Nietzsche. In any case, Schopenhauer spoke six other languages in addition to German, so he was in a good position to judge. He wrote that French prose represented a greater model of clarity than German. Furthermore, he consciously emulated the literary style of the English philosopher David Hume. It is also a fact that German was the language of Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel, men whose prose, philosophical and otherwise, is among the most indigestible that has ever been committed to paper.

I have the Murphy version which I downloaded quite a while ago.
Its pretty good - but I didn't get around to finishing it.

I'll get back to it, though.

I have it on CD as an audio book I can send you a copy if you like? It is nice just to sit there and listen while you do other things. I may put it on my website in chapters might be easier for people to get hold of that way.

I have it on CD as an audio book I can send you a copy if you like? It is nice just to sit there and listen while you do other things. I may put it on my website in chapters might be easier for people to get hold of that way.

That is so great
I didn't know there was such a thing available.
I'd love to just sit there and listen to it and read the German at the same time and compare

be careful though ....

The German government regards any copy of Mein Kampf other than the Mannheim English "translation" as a copywrite infringement that they are more than willing to prosecute.

don't be too public about it.

Let me know how I can get my hands on the recording

Thanks ...

Bear54

The company that recorded Mein Kampf told me they broke the copyright law by recording it. the state of Bavaria owns the copyright but they hae never prosecuted anyone yet. I can send you a copy or direct you to the links on the website I got it from i paid for a good quality bit rateversion.

The fact that Hitler didn't have a sanctioned English translation for the book speaks volumes in and of itself. He was afterall fixated on his German speaking Volk and what he wrote was essentially for their consumption and no one elses.

It was slightly more complicated than that. The English translation(s) were tied up in litigation for years.

Quote:

Houghton Mifflin published an abridged edition in 1933 under the title My Battle[...]
In 1938, Houghton Mifflin licen[sed] the publisher Reynal & Hitchcock to prepare a critical edition. Reynal & Hitchcock commissioned a committee of academics to produce a complete, annotated translation along with 80,000 words of commentary to accompany Hitler's 320,000-word text. A crisis arose when another American publisher, Stackpole, challenged Hitler's copyright and announced the preparation of its own unabridged translation. By 1925, when Hitler copyrighted Mein Kampf, he had renounced his Austrian citizenship, but he did not become a German citizen until 1932; on his copyright registration, he described himself as a "stateless German." The Copyright Act of 1909, however, only protected foreign authors whose countries granted to "a citizen of the United States the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as to its own citizens." Thus, Stackpole argued that as an author without a country, Hitler could not claim the protection of the Copyright Act. This would leave Mein Kampf in the public domain, eligible to be published by anyone. As the rights of stateless authors had not yet been determined in the US courts, a Federal judge declined to enjoin Stackpole from publishing, and a race to translate ensued while Houghton Mifflin appealed the ruling. On 28 February 1939, 14 years after the first German publication of Mein Kampf, Reynal & Hitchcock and Stackpole released competing, unabridged translations of the book.

Hitler after all could have had an official English translation commissioned. Regardless of what was happening between the various English language publishing houses etc. .. He didn't do so. ... From what I understand ... one of the reasons for this was that English which in reality is really a hodge podge language of a Multiethnic Empire and politically motivated subderfuge, just didn't lend itself well, to adequately translating the more decisive and uncompromizing, and culturally particular intricasies of German. I for one who now on several occasions has attempted to translate sections of the book into English .. struggled hours sometimes on a single page and still wasn't satisfied with the result. This attempt only confirmed and indeed highlighted the rather significant differences in the two languages. One has to remember that English has historically been the language of a people who have been defeated numerous times by very alien long term occupiers. The same cannot be said for German before the 20th century. This is far more significant than most of us even realize. Essentially the Germans have been speaking their own language .. the language that evolved with their own historical and cultural development. The peoples of the British Isles were defeated again and again .. and no longer speak their own language ... and haven't for essentially thousands of years. They speak the mixed language imposed on them by successive alien vanquishers. In other words their own culture is not longer recognizable, sustained and perpetuated by their words and linguistic expressions as is the case for what is German. What has happened to German in the twentieth century is another topic.

These are just facts that have to be acknowledged and on some level taken into consideration.

I have it on CD as an audio book I can send you a copy if you like? It is nice just to sit there and listen while you do other things. I may put it on my website in chapters might be easier for people to get hold of that way.

I guess if you remember that Mannheim is Jewish, of course, it all makes sense. Of course that is the only "Sanctioned" version of the book in the US. So that should tell you something too.

I guess I will not be reading Mein Kampf unless I learn German then. There is no way in hell I'm going to read something translated and published by a Jew. I can't believe Jews are making money on Mein Kampf! Sick! It would be a complete waste of time to read the Mannheim "version", I'm sure Hitler agrees.